EXCLUSIVE: Alison Lani Genest has been promoted to Vice President of Improvement at Ascendant Leisure, the unbiased manufacturing firm of veteran studio chief, Rob Friedman. In her new function, she is going to oversee all elements of improvement throughout Ascendant’s rising slate of movies and sequence.
Genest got here to the promotion after working at Friedman’s aspect as a improvement government since 2020. She minimize her enamel within the enterprise creating and producing scripted digital media and music movies, previous to Ascendant serving as inventive government at Fisher Stevens’ former manufacturing firm, Rebel Media.
“I really feel extremely fortunate to have discovered a house the place I’ve the liberty to champion new voices, hunt down inventive companions, and discover avenues to develop initiatives throughout each movie and tv,” the rising exec informed Deadline. “It’s an honor and a privilege to work and study below a really distinctive chief and entrepreneur like Rob.”
Friedman referred to as Genest “a tough employee with good instincts and one eye on attention-grabbing materials,” including that he’s “excited for what the longer term holds.”
Spearheading the event and manufacturing of options, tv programming, and streaming content material, Ascendant is targeted on elevated industrial content material with broad enchantment. Friedman launched the corporate after serving as Co-Chairman of Lionsgate Movement Image Group from 2012-2017. He got here there following the studio’s acquisition of Twilight distributor Summit Leisure, which he’d headed up as Co-Chairman and CEO starting in 2007.
Throughout his tenure, Lionsgate turned the primary studio outdoors the standard majors to generate over $1 billion on the U.S. field workplace, a feat it repeated two years in a row. Lionsgate additionally notably obtained the very best variety of Academy Award nominations in his last 12 months of management on the studio — 26 in whole — with six wins for La La Land and two for Hacksaw Ridge.
Previous to Summit Leisure, Friedman spent 27 years at Warner Bros, holding roles together with President of Worldwide Promoting and Publicity. He moved to Paramount Footage as Vice Chairman of the Paramount Movement Image Group in 1997, there creating Paramount’s specialty movie division, Paramount Classics.
